Old Friends
by overthemoon13
Summary: Its 2016 and only one of our beloved doctors and a few nurses have remained at County General.
1. Default Chapter

AN: This is my first fic, so if it sucks don't hate me too much. Please review. Tell me if it sucks and I won't continue to pollute the internet with crap. Also I know nothing about medicine so if I screw any of that stuff up please forgive.

Disclaimer: Don't own. But my birthday is coming up…

Its 2016 and only one of our beloved doctors and a few nurses have remained at County General.

"Dr. Thompson, you're late."  
"I know, chief. It won't happen again."  
"Funny that's what you said yesterday, and the day before that."  
"I'm sorry, chief," the young resident shouted over his shoulder as he ran into the lounge. Emerging again he grabbed a chart and headed for Exam 1.

Itwas a pretty hectic day in the Cook County General Hospital ER. Not anything too out of the ordinary, just a never ending and ever growing amount of patients. 'I swear to God all the sick people get together and decide to ambush us,' the Chief of Emergency Medicine thought to herself.

"Dr. Lewis," a med student approached her pulling her out of her thoughts. "Dr. Lewis can you take a look at this patient for me.  
"Get a resident to do it, I'm swamped," she heard herself say. She did have a lot of things to do, but truth be told she just didn't want to look after med students patients.

"Dr. Lewis, you're projectile vomiting in 4 is asking for you."  
"Thanks, Chuny." Chuny was one of the few people who had worked there longer than Susan. In fact, apart from a couple other nurses, she was the only one who had been there since Susan made her return to County. Of course Mark and Romano had died, Elizabeth had gone back to England, Jing-Mei had gone to China to visit family, and Carter had moved to Africa to be with Kem. But everyone else had also eventually left. Gallant had been able to return to County due to injuries acquired during his time in Iraq, Pratt was at Northwestern, Neela had gone back home, Ray opted for a career in music, Morris had done something stupid and had his license revoked, Luka had moved back to Croatia, Sam had gone with him, Kerry had gone to Florida, and Abby had been the last to leave after something had happened to her brother. She was surrounded by new people, people who had no idea that those other doctors and nurses had existed, much less led the same lives they now did.

"Dr. Lewis. Dr. Lewis, are you ok?" Susan snapped out of her little world when she heard a nurse address her.  
"Yeah. I'm fine. What's up?"  
"MVA. 12 minutes out."  
"Ok, thanks." She really wasn't in the mood for a trauma, so she tried to make herself look busy, not a hard thing to do in so busy an ER, but somehow she ended up in Trauma Two, despite her efforts.

"What have we got?"  
"Jane Doe. Mid-thirties, early forties. Several broken bones, loosing a lot of blood, but we can't find where." Susan had not until this moment looked up at the tiny woman lying on the gurney. When she saw who it was she nearly fainted.  
"Oh my God."  
She had turned white as a sheet, and her legs weren't sure if they would be supporting her anymore.  
"Dr. Lewis?" She suddenly sprang into doctor mode.  
"Page Dubenko, get him down here. And get Chuny in here. Hang a liter of O neg…"  
"Lost the pulse."  
"Ok charge the paddles to 300. Clear" No response.  
"Charge again. Clear" Again, no response.  
"Come on, stay with me," she muttered under her breath, and then louder, "Charge to 350."  
"Got a pulse." Susan sighed with relief as the Chief of Surgery walked in the door.

To be continued…


	2. Ready for Life

AN: Okay, I actually wrote this with the first chapter, but I waited to see if anyone would tell me it was crap before I continued with the story. And since no one did here is the second chapter. Sorry it's pretty short. More to come when I right it.Don't know if that will be soon. Probably though.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything related to ER. If I did, well I never would have dropped a helicopter on anyone.

Chapter 2 – Ready for Life

She couldn't open her eyes and she couldn't make a sound, but she felt like screaming. She didn't know where she was, or how she had gotten there. She was trying to remember…

"_Slow down."  
__She didn't respond. She didn't have a lot to say to him anyways.  
_"_Come on. Talk to me, Baby."  
_"_Don't call me that. And don't criticize my driving."  
_"_You're like 15 miles over the speed limit." __Again, she didn't say anything she just kept on driving  
_"_Fine just stop. I'm not staying in the car with you driving like this."  
He had no idea where they were, but he didn't want to be in that kind of danger any longer than he had to be. He knew he had pissed her off, but he didn't care. He didn't care about her anyways. She was, quite frankly, just a rebound. She pulled over, he got out, and she drove away without a word. Had he not gotten on the El at the stop he happened to be standing next to he would have heard the scrape of metal on metal as a city taxi collided head on with a jeep._

But she didn't remember any of that. She remembered "Ready for Love" playing on the radio, but that was it. And she remembered a familiar voice asking her to "stay with me." She was extremely tired. She just wished she could open her eyes. It was beginning to worry her that she couldn't see or speak. What if her eyes were open and she didn't know it? What if she could never see again?

She heard someone move beside her. She wanted to reach out, to grab them, to say "Hey I'm in here", but she couldn't. She wanted to cry. She hated this, She hated being alone. She was ready to wake up and go back to her life. While she was bathing in her self pity, she heard a door open.

"How is she?" She heard a voice say. It was a voice she had heard before but she couldn't place it.  
"No change." 'Damn it,' she thought, 'Where do I know that voice from?' She heard one of the people start to leave.  
"Susan," said the voice, "I'm sure she'll be fine."

'SUSAN! No there is no way.' But she knew that was who it was. She was surprised that she hadn't picked up on the voice right away, but then again it had been 5 years. Then it hit her, she was at County.

To be continued…

AN: I promise next time we will find out whothe mystery woman is. And the song mentioned is Ready for Love by Bad Company


	3. Reunion

AN: So I had to decide between studying for my Biology final or updating this. Yes, I am still in school even though its June, and it sucks. Ok I promise we find out the mystery woman, as I have dubbed her, is. Unless you have already made your guess and you are right. Then you already know. Please review. Pretty please. With sugar on top.

Disclaimer: Characters + ER Not mine. Just taking them out for a while. I promise I will have them home by 11

Chapter 3- Reunion

It had been three days since the accident. For three days the Chief of Emergency Medicine was gone from her ER, and she was quite surprised that no one had blown it up yet. She was worried about her ER, but she was more worried about her friend, and so she stayed in the recovery room waiting for her friend to wake up. 'Is she my friend,' the doctor thought to herself. 'It's been almost six years, but we were close before she left.'

If the truth is to be told, Susan was a little scared. She was unsure what would happen when the woman lying perfectly still awoke. She had little time after that, however, to think as she heard a low moan from the unconscious woman. Susan rushed over to her and grabbed her hand. The woman tried to open her eye lids but she wasn't able to.  
"Abby, if you can hear me squeeze my hand," she commanded to make sure her friend was really awake. Her soared as she felt a small, weak pull at her hand. "Abby, it's Susan Lewis. You are at County General Hospital. Today is May 25, 2016. You were in a wreck." Abby made nodded her head slightly, but it hurt so much and she had to stop. She tried to open her eyes again, but it was too bright, the light made her head hurt something terrible. She was tired and fell into a deep sleep.

She awoke several hours later, and opened her eyes slowly. Someone had turned the lights out and she could actually open them. She found herself alone in a hospital bed, attached to numerous machines. She found the call button and rang for the nurse. Several minutes later still no one had come. 'Damn nurses. I'll never ignore the call button again.' She hit the button several more times, and finally someone came. A bouncy, bubbly nurse came in the door.

"Awake finally," the overly happy nurse commented. Abby just nodded. "Did you need something?"  
"Water" was all Abby could manage to say, her throat was so dry. The nurse left the room and returned a few moments later with a glass of water. Abby downed it in one gulp and said, "Thank you." Her voice was returning somewhat. "Do you know if Dr. Lewis is here," she said, half talking half whispering. The nurse just looked at her confused. "From the ER," Abby added.  
"I go get another glass of water and check for you." Abby nodded. When the nurse returned she informed Abby that Dr. Lewis was down stairs, but she would be notified that Abby had asked for her.

She hadn't even waited for the elevator. She had just run for the stairs. 'Damn it,' she thought, 'Why did I leave? I knew I shouldn't have left.' She flew down the hall and into the room.

"Abby," she said between panting breaths. "So sorry. Just went down to check on the ER." She sat down and when she finally caught her breath she said, "How are you doing?"  
"I think I'm pretty good, considering…"  
"I'm so sorry. What happened?"  
"You probably know better than me." Abby had fully recovered her voice, thanks to four glasses of water.  
"You hit a cab, totaled your car."  
"I think Jeremy was there." Susan knew what she was hinting at, but she really didn't want to be the one to tell Abby.  
"They didn't bring in anyone else."  
"Oh."  
"That doesn't mean anything, though. He may have been just fine and didn't need to come in."  
"Yeah, maybe." She didn't sound too convinced.  
"I can find out for you."  
"Yeah that would be good." After a long pause she continued, "We were fighting. I had to go to a meeting and he had to work. I was driving. I don't even remember what we were fighting about. Something about how I was using him or maybe something else. I don't remember." Susan gave her hand a loving squeeze. She knew how had that must have been on her friend.


	4. The Long and Winding Road

AN: Sorry guys, really short chapter. Just Abby's thoughts really. There are two more chapters coming. I was going to finish writing them in Biology when my school caught on fire (no joke we had to evacuate and everything).They are going to be pretty short too. I'll probably get themup tomorrow.

Disclaimer: They are mine, all mine! Oh, wait, no, no they're not.

Chapter 4- The Long and Winding Road

Abby jumped up in her (highly uncomfortable) hospital bed. She had been having a lot of flashbacks since the accident. In fact, she had hardly gotten a peaceful moment of sleep. Every time she nodded off, she could see bits and pieces of the accident, but she still didn't know exactly what had happened.

She was glad Susan had found out that her friend – I guess you would call him a friend- was ok. Apparently Abby had been the only person in the car. She didn't remember. The people in the car she hit were fine, thank God.

This particular flashback was about the argument they had right before they left her apartment. They didn't really care for each. She was a rebound, she knew that. And him? Well, he was there so why not? It was like they actually really liked each other. They were always "breaking up." They were just so different, but every time one of them was lonely, they came running back. They were always arguing, bickering.

As was the case that night, but neither of them knew what they were really arguing about. Just one of those arguing to argue things. He said something to piss her off. He said a lot of things to piss her of. That's why she was driving so fast. That's why he got out. It was all coming back to her now. She had turned the corner and ended up in the wrong lane. She swerved and just barely clipped the cab. Well judging by where she was, it was a little more than barely.

She knew she would never talk to him again. He was a bastard, anyways. She also knew that the flashbacks would go away. About a week after this last flashback, she was able to sleep through most of the night without waking up, and her nightmares about the accident were less and less. She was on the road to recovery.

Hear that? It's the review button calling your name.


	5. Going Home part I

AN: The next two chapters are really, really short and they are just sorta like wrap up chapters to end the story. They aren't very good. Sorry about the length. Review pretty please.

Disclaimer: In the words of Pheobe: "Not not mine. Not not mine."

Chapter 5- Going Home part I

"You want me to pull some strings? You know so that you can't go back to work just yet, Doctor's Orders."  
"Thanks but no thanks. Besides this isn't like trying to trick a gym teacher. My boss is actually a doctor."  
"I know, but I thought I'd offer."  
"Well thank you. God, it was good seeing you again, Susan."  
"You too. Take care, Abby. I'd hate to see on a gurney again anytime soon."  
"Yeah me too."  
"If you ever need a job…"  
"Thanks Susan. Bye."

Abby was greeted by the warm, but slightly windy Chicago day as she exited County General. It wasn't that bad being there. She couldn't understand why all the patients complained. She laughed out loud at the thought. Actually she could come with quite a list of why the patients complained, and most of them were true.

But if the truth be told, she was kinda sad to leave the place. It was like a home for her. Not that Susan hadn't offered her a job like a billion times while she was there. It appeared that they were still working on the never ending search for a good attending. She couldn't deny that she hadn't thought about accepting, but she had left that place and moved on. She had a new hospital with better hours and real coffee in the lounge.

Later, in her apartment she was still thinking about the offer Susan had made her. It was kind of funny if you think about it. She had always complained about how much she hated County, and her she was feeling homesick for it. She knew that she probably wouldn't accept the offer, so why was she still thinking about it?


	6. Going Home part II

Disclaimer: If I owned er I would have a much nicer computer among other things.

Chapter 6- Going Home part II

She was half way through her first shift since the accident when she made up her mind. Actually she didn't really make up her mind, it just decided for her. She had been thinking about Susan's offer all day and she just couldn't let it go.

She approached her boss and said, "Dr. Livingston, may I have a word?"  
"Certainly, Dr. Lockhart." It bugged her that he never called her Abby. Dr. Lockhart just wasn't as friendly sounding as Abby.  
"Well, sir, I quit."  
"What?"  
"I quit, sir."  
"Why?"

Her mouth curled into a grin as she replied, "I'm going home."

AN: Ok I know that was like the shortest chapter ever. Sorry. It was originally part of Chapter 5, but I thought that it would be better to split them up. So I did. Anywho, that's the end of the story. No more. Finito. Reveiw for me please. Come on you know you want to. Go hit the little button. It won't bite, I promise.


End file.
